Review – Lawrence of Arabia

This has got to be the most woman-free three and a half hours in movie history. I suppose when T.E. Lawrence is your subject, you don’t have any particular reason to include women in your tale. Further, just because production codes in the early 60s forbade graphic depictions of gay sex doesn’t mean that Lawrence’s orientation could be entirely left out (though the issue is treated only via innuendo). But still, couldn’t there have been a woman or two with a speaking part in one of the camps or something? Gender aside, this vaguely works as a war movie. The epic battle scenes are sure to please genre buffs. The trouble is that action – or even meaningful dialogue – is often separated by extended stretches of meandering plotlessness as empty as the desert itself. Further, the overall story joins in the wandering motif late in the picture, seeming to lose focus as its subject suffers tactical and emotional setbacks. The final result isn’t bad (certainly good enough to have won some Oscars), but it’s not the most compelling piece of cinema I’ve ever seen. Mildly amusing